Auschwitz in Jerusalem

The conflicting messages delivered at a recent commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz reveal the extent to which today's politics are being defined by the tug of war between nationalism and cosmopolitanism. But when it comes to drawing lessons from the Holocaust, the cosmopolitans retain the moral high ground.

BERLIN – Looming over this year’s commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, were two contradictory impulses that lay behind the creation of the Jewish state: cosmopolitanism and nationalism. A painful dialogue between these perspectives marked the event, reflected in the utterances of the officials who attended and the objections of those who stayed away.

In opening the ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu set the tone for what was to come. He described Auschwitz as “an abyss” and Jerusalem as “a peak,” with the former representing “enslavement” and “death” and the latter epitomizing “freedom” and “life.” To give meaning to the lives of those murdered in the Holocaust, he sought to link their deaths to Israel’s founding just a few years later. Rather than presenting the fate of Europe’s Jews as a reason to renew the struggle against hatred and genocide everywhere, he focused more narrowly on the interests of the state of Israel and concluded his remarks with a battle cry against Iran.

The choice between cosmopolitanism and nationalism has always been an especially difficult one for Jews. Historically, the exclusion of “wandering Jews” from official life meant that they were de facto “citizens of nowhere,” and thus cosmopolitan by default. Yet precisely for this reason, many Jews went on to become ultra-nationalists in the countries where they were eventually assimilated. A quintessential example was the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, who as a young man initially welcomed World War I as an opportunity to fight for his country. The same contradictory sentiments are now bound up in Israel’s national identity, animating an abiding tension between democracy and the desire to provide a Jewish homeland.

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When I was a kid, I was not particularly impressed by the separation of church and state that the founders had devised in the American Constitution. But after a lifetime of observing government policies perpetrated in the name of state religion, I thank God for the founders’ wisdom and foresight.

Mark Leonard raises very legitimate concerns. `It is shameful that 75-years after the holocaust national leaders compete to see who can cast the most blame onto others and who did the most to save Jews. As Leonard argues these are largely irrelevant in the present day. The holocaust happened because nationalism and racism were allowed to prosper. The message for today is not who did most or least 75-years ago but who will act today to deter extremism?

Out of 1.3 million killed at Auschwitz, 1.1 million were Jewish. It is important that this is remembered, more particularly at a time when anti-Zionism is the Trojan horse of old fashioned Racist, anti-Semitism.

There is no point comparing the situation of Israel- which has worked very hard to come up- with other people who have been subjected to genocide since then. The fact of the matter is the US never 'struggled against hatred and genocide' in East Pakistan or any other client state. France may have been complicit in genocide in Rwanda because many Tutsis were English, not French, speaking.

If Israel were exporting terrorism rather than useful technology, we would not greatly care about this commemoration. It is quite foolish to suggest that the Shoah is not unique because the Jewish people- Ashkenazis in particular- have made such a completely disproportionate contribution to the Sciences and the Arts.

Israel's existence has completely changed attitudes towards Jews in line with Herzl's thinking. It now has more friends in the region than the Palestinians- who are a very talented and decent people but whose political leadership has been poor because of the huge sums of money thrown at them.

Let us be honest. Zweig and a lot of other intellectuals were fools. Israel's 'Labor' aristocracy have paid the price for their elitism and condescension. Nothing about those fools is worth remembering. On the other hand, I would like to highlight the views of Atul Gopichand, who survived the Holocaust by the simple ruse of being born thirty years after it in India, who said 'Jews should not just be the gadfly of something wholly imaginary. They should bite our Maths teacher.'

For my part, I strongly support the right of things which exist to exist- more especially if they beat anyone who tries to stop them existing. Obviously, when I say I strongly support this right, I don't mean I'd actually do anything to help. I'm just virtue signalling is all.

I think history will be politicized and pressed into the service of agendas if it continues to be studied in Universities. I look forward to the day when children will only learn about History behind the bike shed while experimenting with nicotine. A more peaceful for all can only be achieved if we get rid of nations and states and classes and races and genders and kids wot got more marbles than me.

I was born in Germany. Thus I am entitled to write in this vein more particularly because I have an I.Q slightly lower than my chronological age- which is 57.

As Zbzynxique Gecjewxey said 'The true Holocaust is never the Holocaust they commemorate but the Holocaust they won't commemorate'.

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